Q&A for How to Cut Formica

Once you have a rough cut done, finish off the edges with a trim router. Attach the Formica sheet to the surface of your choice. There should be a slight overhang; to trim it, place the bearing against that surface, moving the router along the edge until the Formica fits the surface perfectly. Then, sandpaper the edges to finish.

Use masking tape to cover the points where you plan to make your cuts. Then, trace over the tape and cut.

Check if your saw blade is designed to cut laminate or particle board. If you're using a table or circular saw to cut Formica, use a saw blade designed specifically for cutting laminate or particle board. These blades have sharp teeth, which make for cleaner cuts. Try to leave an overhang of up to 1 in (2.54 cm), which you can trim off while finishing the edges.

If you need to cut narrow strips, you can use a laminate slitter or scoring knife. The laminate slitter is probably a better bet if you need to cut lots of strips or if they need to be long.

You can cut it with tin snips or special scissors that are designed to cut laminate. Regular craft scissors or kitchen shears likely won’t be strong enough.

Use a paint scrape about 4" wide, as thin of metal as you can find, maybe from the sheet rock department. Force it under one corner, work it back and forth, see-saw action. It should peel up and with mild pulling while see-sawing, it should come off. It's pretty easy to do. Then comes removing the glue.

Use masking tape, mark the area to be cut out, and use a fine-tooth jigsaw to cut on the lines. Take your time.

Yes, you should coat both surfaces with contact cement. After 15-20 minutes, your 2 surfaces will be ready to be cemented together. As soon as the surfaces touch each other, they'll bond, so be careful that your laminate is positioned correctly. Tip: place long dowels (2-3 feet each, placed about a foot apart from each other) on your surface top, then place your laminate on top of the dowels. The dowels will still move. Once your laminate is placed where you want it, slide out each of the dowels, starting with the center-most one, pressing down the laminate (where the dowel was) as you do so.

I would do the back splash first. Cut it to 1/32-1/16" oversize and carefully file it down. File from the front to the back only.

Apply 3M Contact Cement to the surface you are putting the Formica on. Let set 15 minutes until it's tacky, then carefully apply the Formica piece.

Same instructions as cutting Formica, but I usually make the cut from the backside.

Use a fine-tooth hole saw.

When we remodeled our house, my husband put new laminate on top of our old laminate counter tops. He just sanded them with 100 grit sandpaper to rough them up a little to help the glue adhere. It has now been 7 years and they are still holding great.

You can, but it requires more scoring and effort than you'll care to do. Use a saw.

Mark your 6 inches and then put masking tape where the saw blade is going to go. Take your time, cut it slow and straight.

Formica will not bend. 90-degree angles are standard. Beveled edges are possible.

You can cut Formica from the back using a carbide cutter. You must be careful not to apply too much pressure on the cutter on each pass. You will have to ensure you keep making passes until you are completely through the Formica or it could flake off the front side. I have found that cutting on an old vinyl flooring allows the cutter to go completely through the Formica without splintering or flaking the front. This also leaves a nice flat edge for joining.

Yes, you can. Just make sure you use a new blade.

Use an iron with an old, plain, white t-shirt covering the iron to protect the laminate from getting too hot. Do not overheat it though! Carefully go over the area with the iron, warming the formica/laminate and checking it with your hand to ensure that you aren't overheating it; this will reactivate the glue. Roll the area continuously while it cools.

Use a fine-tooth jigsaw. Make a rough cut first and a final cut once you've gotten the feel of it.

Follow the instructions listed in the article above.

It’s called a trim bit. It is essentially straight. kind if like a cylinder with cutting edges attached. (See illustration above.) You can always test it on a piece of scrap wood and you’ll see that if you just place the router with the vet on the wood and pull in towards the center, it will make a perfect line (straight down) the width of the bit. The important part is to use guides with the router to ensure that you do not cut any further than you want, especially if it’s already attached to a piece of wood.

Most laminate manufacturer offer color-matched caulking. You just have to be sure which manufacturer and the exact name of the color/pattern.